Abstract

Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) as an environmental tool carries out the systematic identification and evaluation of the potential impacts of proposed development projects. ESIA aims at enhancing environmental performance of development projects like hydroelectric power supply which is an affordable source of renewable energy in Cameroon.

Despite the global importance given to Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in Cameroon, it is seen as a pass to receive funding from donors such as the World Bank, European Union (EU) e.t.c or prerequisite to commence development projects by proponents. In most ESIA reports done in Cameroon taking the case of the Lom Pangar Hydro Project (LPHP), low level of public participation during public hearings has been experienced. Equally most negative environmental and social impacts of development projects identified in ESIA reports, continue to be felt by communities despite mitigation strategies stipulated in environmental management plans of ESIA reports.

This research focused on critiques of ESIA procedure, identification of environment and social impacts and the current impacts of LPHP to it’s surrounding community.  Data was obtained by means of interview, field observation, administration of questioner and literature review on the study site.  The data was analysed using Excel spreadsheet and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).

Results revealed that reports of the LPHP on some instruments such as participation of civil society and women’s empowerment were not considered which explains the non-representative population of women groups in the ESIA process. During public hearing there were no strategies put in place to involve the voices of people with disabilities. Questioner surveys in the community for this study indicates persistent negative ecological impacts some of which include: flooding (31%), unplanned deforestation (21%), loss of aquatic and wildlife species (24%), human wild life conflict (16%) and loss of vegetation cover (8%).

This study equally realized that more attention was given to social than environmental and economic mitigation plans. Some of the social mitigation plans include; the construction of boreholes, school buildings and integrated health centers. This study recommends provision for participation of disabled person during public participation, constant follow up of environmental monitoring plan in ESIA as well as promises of proponents to local population.

Background of the Study

Hydropower is a clean, large-scale, and affordable source of renewable energy that has the potential to play a major role in addressing the African continent’s power supply crisis (World Bank, 2012). The Agenda for Sustainable Development, launched by the UN in 2015, envisions universal access to modern energy services by 2030 (UN, 2017). Across Africa, hydropower is responsible for 74.2% of all non-fossil fuel electricity use (World Resources Institute, 2018). Focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa, the installed hydropower capacity (as in 2017) was estimated at 30.4 GW (International Hydropower Association, 2018).

Despite this, around 92% of the 300 GW (gigawatt) potential still remains untapped (Zhou et al., 2018). The opportunities for expanding hydropower are considerable and could help support electricity provision in remote African communities, especially when developed in a small, decentralized scale (Liu, 2013).

Electrifying these areas is a challenging process and usually requires significant investments and technological and structural changes in energy systems (Barnes, 2005). In order to minimize the potential negative impacts of such developmental project an environmental social impact assessment should be carried out. Canter (1996) regards ESIA as a systematic identification and evaluation of the potential impacts of proposed projects, plans, programs or legislative actions; relative to the physical-chemical, biological, cultural and socio-economic components of the total environment.

Context

Cameroon has the third largest hydropower development potential in Sub-Saharan Africa, estimated at over 12,000 MW (megagawatt), with the Sanaga River basin providing nearly half of the untapped potential. The project development objective of the proposed LPHP (Lom Pangar Hydropower Project) was to increase hydropower generation capacity. As a regulating dam with an associated power house, the LPHP will be a critical step to unlock Cameroon’s hydropower potential by improving the guaranteed water flow of the Sanaga River. The LPHP involved the construction and operation of a series of infrastructure and equipment notably with social and environmental impacts:

• The dam and its 540 km2 reservoir,
• A 30 MW hydropower plant at the foot of the dam,
• A 105 km 90kV power transmission line connecting the plant to the grid,
• The construction and improvement of several access roads, paths and tracks,
• The required adaptation of the Chad-Cameroon pipeline, a section of which will have to

operate under water for most of the year.

The World Bank as a strategic partner to the GOC (Government of Cameroon) in its efforts to improve access to reliable least cost energy supply for growth, employment creation and poverty reduction funded the LPHP. A detailed ESIA report was carried out as requirements of funding of the World Bank (Munyazikwiye, 2011). The World Bank lent US$132 MILLION to the GOC to the realization of the LPHP to establish a credible track record in the sustainable development of Cameroon’s natural resources. ESIA (Environmental social impact accessment) as an environmental management tool aims to steer the behaviour of actors towards greater environmental awareness, leading to the incorporation of environmental values in proposed activities and plans (Arts et al., 2012). Canter (1996) defines EIA more broadly by including the impacts of plans, programmes and legislative actions.

EIA has been developed as a tool for environmental management for 40 years (Villacreses et al., 2017), and is now globally recognised and implemented as a decision-making support instrument in project planning (Fischer and Jones, 2016). EIA was introduced in developed country mostly in response to the national demand for better environmental protection (Wood, 2003; Momtaz and Salim, 2013), whereas the evolution of EIA systems in developing countries have frequently been in reaction to natural calamities (Jha-Thakur, 2006; Khosravi et al., 2019a) and requirements of funding institutions such as the World Bank (Munyazikwiye, 2011).

An early attempt to take a global look at the effectiveness of EIA was coordinated by the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) and culminated in the International Effectiveness Study (Sadler, 1996). According to this study effectiveness was defined as “whether EIA works as intended and meets the purpose for which it was designed” (Sadler, 1996, p.37; Bond and Morrison-Saunders, 2013, p.44). Therefore, in order to work effectively, EIA results need to underpin environmental management of the project. Otherwise, EIA has been treated as a way of obtaining planning permission (Jha-Thakur, 2006).

Since the main aim of this research is to evaluate effectiveness of ESIA report on the LPHP in Cameroon, it is necessary to understand the elements of an ESIA report in Cameroon, contextualise current impacts of the ongoing LPHP on surrounding communities in relation to mitigative measures in the environmental management plan of LPHP ESIA report.

Problem Statement

Majority of international banks such as World Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC) require a project’s ESIA to comply with international standards as a prerequisite to funding. But despite this funding prerequisite most projects don’t eventually carry out an effective ESIA because of some challenges such as difficulties or delays in obtaining bank’s approval and the need for additional studies.

In Cameroon decree (No. 2005/0577/PM) lays down the process and the procedural framework governing EIA for any development project that has the potential to inflict harm on the environment, making it applicable to forestry activities. Despite this law enforcement, surrounding communities located in project sites which had been subjected to ESIA still experience negative environmental and social impact during the operational phase of this projects.

In fact, most mitigation measures proposed in the environmental management plan of ESIA reports in Cameroon project are not always implemented. This has led to repeated complaints and accumulated grudges of recipient communities to which development projects subjected to ESIA are being executed in Cameroon with the recipient communities of LPHP not being and exception.

According to article 11(1) of 23 February 2005, realization of the ESIA must be made with the participation of the local populations concerned through consultations and public hearings.  Public Participation (PP)in Cameroon has been increasingly prioritized at the core of national Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) legislation.

Despite this action by the government, strategies put in place to effectively enhance, motivate and attract local communities’ interest to public hearing events are absent. In fact most public hearing event, considered as public participation in Cameroon during the ESIA process experience insignificant attendance. Although literature on limitations of public participation is extensive (Wolfgang and Rasid, 2002) there exist few literatures on this in Cameroon.

Most often, assessing the content an ESIA report in Cameroon does not correspond with some aspects of project description and ESIA management plan to be implemented on the project site. This study therefore, examines and analysis the reports on ESIA for development projects in the East Region, Cameroon precisely the Lom Pangar Hydroelectric Project (LPHP).

General Objectives of the Study

To critically analyze the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) reports on development projects and the awareness of the inhabitants around the area.

Specific Objectives of the Study

1. To examine the EIA system components in LPHP Cameroon.
2. To identify the mitigative measures and evaluate its implantation as per the environmental management plan of LPHP
3. To assess current impacts of LPHP in project area.

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